


Memories

by Twice2Ennien



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Childhood Memories, F/F, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, One Shot, Post-Canon, Shame, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) Season 5 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:42:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24844759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twice2Ennien/pseuds/Twice2Ennien
Summary: What does Catra remember that Adora doesn't?
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 64





	Memories

Catra stifles a sigh at the big doofy grin on her girlfriend's face. Technically they're supposed to be sleeping, but Etheria isn't going to rebuild itself, and years of leadership training don't turn off when there are plans to be made. That said, one of them's a little more motivated to prove herself just now, and the other...

"Etheria to Adora. Come in, Captain Spacebrains." Catra lazily waves a hand through Adora's line of sight.

"I was totally listening!"

"Of course you were," she grins, "So do you agree?"

"I... uhhhh..." Adora blushes and Catra can feel her annoyance dissolve. "I was just thinking about our first kiss, at the Heart. I know with everything else going on," Adora stops herself mid-sentence. "Catra. What does that look mean?"

"It's nothing; forget it. I can't believe you're getting all mushy about the time you almost died," Catra deflects.

"It's not nothing. You keep making the same face every time I try to talk about... about one of the happiest moments of my life. Of our life? I want to know what's wrong. Please, Catra. You can tell me."

"OK," Catra lets out her sigh. "I'm frowning because... You don't remember any times before that."

"Other times..."

"Yeah. There were other times. Before... before you left, before She-Ra, before all this."

Adora starts to speak but just shakes her head and stares into her lap, brow furrowed.

"Shadow Weaver must have done something to me." Her right hand balls into a fist. "I should have known..."

Her left hand comes to her face, wiping away tears almost before they start. Melog appears in the gap, headbutting her side and rumbling into a low purr. Adora's arm falls around the big alien cat, and she takes a steadying breath before turning back to Catra.

"Do you... want to tell me the stories?" One look at her wistful expression, and Catra swallows the sick feeling of doubt rising from her stomach. Maybe Adora doesn't remember, but she wants to. That's a good thing. Right?

"There was one time..."

\---

Catra had an even worse dream than usual. It wasn't safe to go back to sleep, so she prowled around the bunks, silent and stealthy. The third time something fell over, Adora sat up in her bed with a big yawn, stretching her tiny fists.

"Catra? What's wrong?" she whispered, the "S" whistling through the gap in her teeth. From the shadows came a low growl, but seconds later, Catra padded up to Adora's bed on all fours.

"I had a stupid dream," Catra complained, with an angry frown. She looked back and forth from Adora's face to the empty half of the bed where Adora's short legs didn't reach. Without saying anything, Catra jumped into the open space and curled up.

In the dark, Adora grinned widely. She reached forward to gently pet her friend's hair. Catra pretended to be asleep, so Adora quietly kissed the top of her head before lying back down. She fell asleep again almost immediately to the sound of a faint purr.

\---

Good choice, Catra congratulates herself. Adora looks amused, nostalgic even.

"Does that even count? We were like, four."

"So you _do_ remember liking me." Catra's wit is rewarded with a soft punch to the shoulder. Adora looks reassured by the stability of common ground.

\---

Curfew seemed like an obvious idea until you realized most Horde bots were programmed to deter creatures at least the height of an average teenager. So by the time Catra and Adora got anywhere near detectable, they'd learned their corner of the Fright Zone back, forth, sideways, and occasionally upside-down.

_"We always knew we were going to be better than everyone else, so you thought a little extra time in the training rooms would be just the thing," Catra teases, crossing her legs and tossing her (short) hair._

_"...Only we couldn't figure out the controls, so we just ended up sparring with each other," Adora recalls. "Which we could have done anywhere!"_

_"Oh, so you remember the part where your plans totally failed. But do you remember..."_

Winded but triumphant, Adora grinned down at Catra's scowling face.

"I win!"

"Yeah, fine. This time. ... Let me up!"

"Nope!! Not until you admit that you like me!"

"I don't... owwww," Catra whined, feigning injury. Adora set her jaw, unmoved. Catra looked away and muttered, "Okay... I like you, get off of me."

"That doesn't count." Adora's sparkling eyes left no quarter. Catra met them, disdainful anyone could be so obvious. Her heart raced from their sparring.

"I... like you."

"Good!" Adora somehow grinned even wider, not moving. "Because I really, really like you." She slowly lowered her head, and despite herself Catra lifted to meet her halfway--

\---

"We... I really kissed you that long ago?"

"Yeah, silly. It was your idea. We... nothing really came of it, though."

"They would have had cameras in the training rooms," Adora supplies hollowly, staring at the floor.

Catra wrestles with her feelings: fear at revealing the unspoken; old, misplaced anger at Adora for forgetting; worry at what the revelations might do to the trust they're rebuilding. Her time-honored defense mechanisms kick in; she needs feedback that blank expression isn't providing.

"I guess they were fine with us losing sleep to get stronger, but being happy really crossed a line." Adora nods at this, still staring blankly.

"Then there was that one time Lonnie walked in on us making out in the showers." Relieved, Catra immediately cracks up at Adora's new expression, a beet red mix of denial and horror at the dramatic escalation of terms.

"OK, OK, that was just a dream I had." When Adora doesn't immediately punch her in retaliation, Catra realizes her mistake. "That's the only one that's made up. ...I'm sorry. I get why it wouldn't be funny. ... I promise I won't lie again. I won't ever lie to you again."

Adora offers her hand and Catra squeezes it tightly.

\---

Making a big deal out of puberty was discouraged in the Horde; maybe your daily supplement needed adjusting, maybe you needed more balance practice, but discipline and dedication were only supposed to increase with age. Still, Catra had some pretty clear memories from when Adora started to get taller and ... needed a bra.

_She glances up to check and Adora's already blushing and... is that a smile?_

After a particularly strenuous workout, they were encouraged to do self-massage; but if nobody else was around, it was a lot easier to hit the right muscle groups working with a partner. It was probably also a lot easier with fewer layers between you and those muscles, Adora explained as she sat down in front of Catra in just her underclothes. Swallowing, Catra got to work kneading her back. She was doing pretty well not staring at anything in particular until Adora broke the silence.

"Your hands feel really nice," Adora said with a shiver and eyes half-shut. Her arms were covered in goosebumps. Catra could feel her heart pounding and started to worry it would echo off the changing room walls. She reached for Adora's shoulders again just as a chill swept into the room.

"Cadets, you are late for your dinner." Shadow Weaver sounded angrier than concerned, as usual. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And out of uniform. Don't let me see you like this again," she intoned, staring deep into Catra as though she could read her heart.

\---

"I _didn't_ ," Adora insists, grinning widely as she stares at Catra, who snaps out of her reverie and nods furiously. Finally, the tension breaks, and they both let out a good, long laugh.

After a minute, Catra's tail begins to twitch uncomfortably; its tempo increases, and Melog's purr slips into a low growl as their mane shifts redward.

"The, uh," she lowers her voice, "the last time wasn't as funny."

Catra tries to remember it accurately before she starts, to put pieces in order. She sees Shadow Weaver looming taller than the walls, shouting about "terrible influence" and "much too young." A frightened Adora sits between them, hugging her chest. Seconds before, she had been laughing; they both were, much closer together with the lights out--

"Maybe it doesn't matter what happened before," Adora interrupts. The darkness strangling Catra dissipates. She's in Bright Moon, years later, and the moonlight through the windows has nothing on the blazing light in Adora's eyes.

"I don't mean it wasn't important, but... I don't have those memories. And some of them really seem just bad. Maybe we should leave them in the past and make new ones together." Her smile is gentle, but Adora's brow is ready for battle. Shadow Weaver is lucky she's already dead, Catra thinks with a not unpleasant shiver.

"Of course we can, dummy," Catra teases, imagining she's not crying so effectively that her voice only breaks once. She gives in and moves forward with a sob, wrapping her arms around Adora and cremating old shame in the future's warm embrace.

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen the idea kicking around fandom that Shadow Weaver most likely manipulated Adora's memories in the past, and her saying "Catra confuses you" stirred up some unpleasant interactions I had when I was younger. I can't bring myself to go darker, but as a former Troubled Young WLW myself, I thought the least I could do was try to give Adora and Catra back some fond memories. I think they'll be just fine even without them.  
> Thanks Crew-Ra for this series, and cheers to all the other fans for whom it resonated so strongly. <3


End file.
